George Orwell; Animal Farm Animal Farm 1
Unit: Animal Farm Propaganda WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS To urge... To classify... To deceive... Slanted... Distortion... To deaden... Harsh... Counterfeit... Concealment... Slogan... Chief... To exert... Busing... 1. Explain in your own words what propaganda is. 2. What is the difference between propaganda and education? 3. Describe the ideal educator. 4. Which two camps are there in what people consider as propaganda? 5. What danger does propaganda hold for the public? 6. When does propaganda mostly occur? 7. Describe using your own words, the three ingredients of propaganda. 8. What techniques do propagandist use? 2
Goebbels George Orwell; Animal Farm WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS To lack... Bayonet... Rank... To anchor... Abyss... Treacherous... Bourgeois... Latter... Façade... Indecisiveness... Grotesque... Swindle... Scorn... 1. How should a dictator treat the masses? 2. Are weapons necessary for a dictator? Explain. 3. Name 2 good characteristics a dictator needs according to Goebbels. 4. In what way is Goebbels being too positive? Name at least 3 aspects and explain. 3
Unit: Animal Farm Gebreselassi WRITE DOWN THE DEFINI- TIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS Audacity... Trait... Disdain... Intent... To subdue... Headstrong... Ridicule... Jeering... Bleachers... Multistory... Frown... Flimsy... Grueling... Excruciating... Persevere... 1. Is the article a true story? Explain. 2. Why didn t Haile s father support his son? 3. Which two aspects were against Haile according to the public during the first race? 4. What was Haile s reaction to Addis Abeba? 5. What lesson did Haile learn during his first marathon? 6. Was his first marathon heroic? 7. What was Haile s sacrifice for his community? 8. What does Haile mean with his last words? 4
The Wave George Orwell; Animal Farm 1. When and where did this experiment occur? 2. What was Mr. Ross motive for the experiment? 3. What was the first reaction of the class to Mr. Ross? 4. What were the effects on the class? On Robert? On Laurie? On Mr. Ross? 10. What other methods can be used to unit a group? 5. What was Mrs. Ross attitude about the movement? 6. State at least two reasons why Laurie was troubled by the experiment. 7. What were the three key words or concepts of the movement? 8. List two positive and two negative effects of the concepts. 9. What rules did Mr. Ross and the movement use to motivate people? 11. What made Mr. Ross realize that he must bring the experiment to an end? 12. What effect did The Wave have on the relationship between David and Laurie? 13. Who did Mr. Ross say is the actual leader of The Wave? 14. Why did David believe it is all right to hurt a few people? 15. How can movements such as The Wave be defeated? 16. Discuss the difference between having an interest in something and fanaticism? 17. Mr. Ross said, It is amazing how much they like you when you make their decisions for them. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Why is decision-making so difficult? 18. Was Mr. Ross right or wrong in manipulating his students as he did? Defend your answer. 19. What does this experiment say about the causes of the Holocaust? 20. What does this film say about authority and power? 21. Is authority necessarily evil? Why? Why not? 22. Are there situations where obedience is necessary? Explain. 23.What techniques of propaganda does Mr. Ross use in his experiment? Give examples 5
Unit: Animal Farm 1. I could never follow a dictator 2. Peer pressure plays a big role in my life 3. You can always trust teachers Writing Prompts 4. Everyone should make up their own mind 5. It is nice when people make decisions for you 6. I always believe what the media tells me 7. Educators should always present both sides of a case. ASSIGNMENTS 1. Search for examples of 2 different ingredients of propaganda and take them to school. All sources must be in English! 2. Make a list of five things you think a dictator should do or be, to become successful. 3. Research your top ten dictators from the last 110 years. Explain why each specific person is on your list. 4. What can people do to escape from dictatorships? Find some examples from the past. ESSAY Compare and contrast the movie The Wave with the rules of Goebbels and the use of propaganda. How did Mr. Ross build his dictatorship? (500 words) 6
Chapter 1 George Orwell; Animal Farm WRITE DOWN THE DEFINI- TIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS scullery... mincing... tyranny... dissentients... enmity... 1. What is significant about how the animals arrange themselves as they gather to hear Major? What might this arrangement say about future meetings or events? 2. According to Major, what is the cause of all the animals problems? 3. What motto does Major give the animals 4. What are the commandments Major gives the animals? Can you think of ways each of them could be considered a vice? 5. Examine the song Beasts of England as poetry. What imagery is present? What is the message? Why do the animals like it so much that they memorize it on the spot? To what emotions and needs does it appeal? Chapter 2 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS pre-eminent... expounded... spinney... unalterable... 7
Unit: Animal Farm 1. After Major s death what happens to the idea of rebelling against man? 2. Why don t the pigs like the pet raven Moses stories about Sugarcandy Mountain? 3. What causes the animals to finally rebel against Mr. Jones and his four farmhands? 4. When the humans have been chased from the farm, what do the animals do? 5. What do the animals do about the farmhouse? 6. How does the behavior of the pigs foreshadow their eventual leadership positions? 7. Describe how the rebellion takes place. How does the animals behaviour during the rebellion suggest both human and animal characteristics? Chapter 3 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS grudging... parasitical... obstinate... cryptic... 1. What further examples of the difference between the pigs and the other animals occur in this chapter? 2. What are Napoleon s ideas about education? 3. How does the original vision of Animalism become the slogan four legs good, two legs bad? Do you think the animals want rules in simple language? 4. How is Squealer able to convince the other animals to accept that the pigs have the sole right to the cow s milk? 8
Chapter 4 George Orwell; Animal Farm WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS tractable... irrepressible... ignominious... posthumously... 1. Describe the Battle of the Cowshed. 2. What was Snowball s part in this battle? 3. Where is Napoleon during the battle? 4. What is the significance of the gun s placement at the foot of the flagpole? 5. What technique does Orwell use to cast doubt on the likelihood of a succesful revelution? Chapter 5 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS pretext... publican... manifestly... factions... eloquence... sordid... articulate... disinterred... 9
Unit: Animal Farm 1. Why does Mollie run away from the farm? 2. What changes have been made in the weekly meetings over the last year? 3. Explain the windmill controversy from Snowball s point of view. 4. Explain the windmill controversy from Napoleon s point of view. 5. What changes does Napoleon make after his dogs chase Snowball off the farm? 6. Why don t the other animals protest Napoleon s decisions? 7. Note how the animals now arrange themselves when they enter the barn to receive their orders as compared to the description in Chapter I. 8. What is the importance of the dogs accompanying Squealer when he comes to talk to the animals? Chapter 6 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINI- TIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS laborious... arable... repose... perpendicularity... flagstaff... malignity... 1. How much work are the animals now doing? 2. Why does Napoleon decide to engage in trade with neighboring farms? 3. How do the animals react? 4. How is the windmill destroyed? Why does Napoleon blame Snowball? 5. Why does Napoleon insist the windmill must be rebuilt immediately? 10
Chapter 7 George Orwell; Animal Farm WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS chaff... mangels... infanticide... capitulated... coccidiosis... stupefied... categorically... Countenance... 1. Why does Napoleon order that the hens eggs be sold? 2. How does Napoleon react when the hens rebel against his orders? 3. Why does Napoleon revive the threat of the farm being sabotaged by Snowball? 4. Explain why the animals confessed to being traitors. Or is there any explanation? 5. Why does Napoleon order the animals to stop singing Beasts of England? 6. How does Orwell compare Animal Farm under Napoleon s rule, to its exploited state under Farmer Jones s rule? What might this say about Orwell s ideas on totalitarian governments? 7. Do you think it s fair that those who are more educated or more skilled have more influence in decision making? 11
Unit: Animal Farm Chapter 8 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINI- TIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS retinue... surmount... skulk... machination... forgery... 1. What purpose is served by the production figures Squealer reads to the animals? 2. How is Napoleon becoming more and more like a typical dictator? 3. Describe the sale of the stack of lumber. How does Napoleon outwit himself? 4. What makes the battle against Frederick s men different from the Battle of the Cowshed? 5. Why do the men blow up the windmill? 6. The animals celebrate a victory, but at what cost? 7. Describe the whisky incident. Why would Orwell make this scene somewhat humorous? 8. Why are the animals so easily fooled, even when they find Squealer with a ladder and white paint beside the barn at night? 12
Chapter 9 George Orwell; Animal Farm WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS superannuated... complicity... knacker... 1. What is happening to Boxer? 2. What are living conditions like for all of the animals except the pigs and dogs? 3. Why does Napoleon allow Moses to return and to tell his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain? 4. What happens to Boxer? How do the animals accept it? 5. Of what kind of person does Benjamin remind you? Give some examples. What is your opinion of such people? Chapter 10 WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS morose... filial... frugally... incumbent... 13
Unit: Animal Farm 1. What changes have the years brought to the farm? 2. How does Orwell make fun of bureaucracy? 3. How do the animals no feel about their social order, their farm? 4. What drastic actions do the pigs use to shatter the animals complacency? 5. All seven commandments are erased. What is the new commandment and how has it been true from the beginning? 6. At the conference with neighboring farmers, what new changes does Napoleon point out? 7. What happens to the pigs appearance? 8. Some critics relieve that, at the end of the book, Orwell suggests that the pigs and human political leaders are interchangeable. Do you agree with this statement? Explain why. 14
George Orwell; Animal Farm DISCUSSIONS 1. Look back at the list of good leadership qualities made at the beginning of the novel. How do the pigs fit the list? Were there any attributes that the pigs lacked? Did they have some that were not on the list? 2.What importance does education have throughout the novel? How does it evolve? What are the differences between education and indoctrination? 3. Explain why an enemy or scapegoat is necessary for the animals. 4. Surely there is no on among you that wants to see Jones come back? Throughout the animals reign on the farm Napoleon and Squealer dangle the possibility of Jones return as a constant danger, keeping most of the other animals in fear, and thus, submission. Do you think that this was a valid threat? Do you feel that, overall, the animals were better or worse off once they were in control of the farm? 5. Throughout the novel, the natural characteristics of each animal figure heavily in their motives and pronouncements. How do the actions of Napoleon (a pig), Boxer (a horse), Benjamin (a donkey) and the dogs and sheep reflect the traits normally associated with the animal? Do your feel that Orwell purposely chose certain types of animals to assume certain roles? 6. Repeatedly, the animals sacrifice themselves in order to complete the windmill, only to see it destroyed time and again. What, if any, symbolic role does the windmill play? How do you account for the pigs insistence that it be built and re-built? 7. In one of the first scenes in the novel, Old Major sings Beasts of England, effectively bringing the animals together under a common purpose. Indeed, throughout the initial struggle against Man, it is a wildly popular and inspirational song. Yet later on, when the animals have successfully conquered the humans, Squealer, attended by two dogs, announces that Beasts of England had been abolished and was no longer needed. Why? Can you cite other examples where what was once held sacred and necessary to the common cause was later banished by decree? 8. Although Napoleon is considered the absolute Leader of Animal Farm, it is Squealer who is most adept at conveying the party line to the animals, often convincing them to disbelieve their own eyes. What methods does Squealer employ to deceive and/or placate the other animals? How does the concept of memory (or lack thereof) figure in Squealer s pronouncements and dealings with them? 9. Who were the villains of the story? Are they the same as you thought at the beginning of the novel? 15
Unit: Animal Farm ASSIGNMENTS 1. Write down at least 3 reasons why a government might be overthrown. 2. Identify two or three revolutions that occurred more then 10 years ago. What circumstances, of any, do these revolutions have in common? What sort of goals were the revolutionaries seeking to accomplish? In retrospect, were the revolutions successful? 3. Who has the power to make changes in a democracy? How do people make those changes happen? 4. Generalize the behavior of the following animals: pigs, sheep, raven, horse, chicken, dog, cat, donkey, goat, pigeons. Ex. a wolf is normally smart and cunning; a deer is easily scared and careful. 5. Make a short list of the qualities a good leader should possess. 6. The major characters in Animal Farm are introduced in the first four chapters. As you read think about the purpose of each of Orwell s characters. Complete the chart by noting details that describe each character or by listing key actions: Character Character Details Key actions Old Major Inspires hope for real change Gets the revolutions started 7. Orwell s characters and narrator use language to communicate hidden agendas. Sometimes Orwell hints that language should be carefully questioned, other times it s up to us readers to notice it. As you read Chapter 5, 6 and 7, complete the chart below by filling in some examples of manipulative communication. Then state what you think the language really means. (min. 5 boxes). The words In future all questions to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs presided over by himself Napoleon is going to make all he decisions from now on In future all questions to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs presided over by himself 16
George Orwell; Animal Farm 8. As Napoleon takes over leadership of the farm, a new social and political structure emerges. This restructuring leads to many changes in power and privilege among the animals. As you read chapters 8, 9 and 10, use the diagram below to record and compare the living conditions of the pigs with the living conditions of the other animals. Pigs live in the farmhouse 17
Unit: Animal Farm 9. The animals initial revolution has faded into the official legend written by Squealer. What if the animals had the same knowledge and insight that you as a reader have? Identify places in chapters 8-10 where this knowledge might change the course of events. Then predict what might have happened had the animals possessed such knowledge. 10. On pages 3-10 of the novel, Old Major expresses his vision of a society free of human influence and control. Compare and contrast this against what eventually plays out on Manor Farm once the animals have taken over. What, if any, concepts or goals remain the same? 11. Identify the parallels between the historical figures and the characters in the novel. 18
George Orwell; Animal Farm Historical Figure Character Describe Parallel Karl Marx Czar Nicolas II Old Major Old Major is the originator of the idea that becomes the basis of the animal rebellion- however, like Marx, the ideals behind it are soon forgotten. Josef Stalin Leon Trotsky The Proletariat laboring working class Pravda- the newspaper that worked as the propaganda organ of the Party The KGB, or secret police 1. Why do you think revolutions occur? What circumstances would lead people to overthrow the daily political and economical structure of their lives? 2. Have you ever felt peer pressure? Writing Prompts 3. The school gets a new principal and she changes the old rules, some in ways that seems unfair. Some students organize a protest and ask for a voice in setting rules. She rejects this without explanation. What will you do? What guidelines will you follow to determine how far your protest should go to gain equality? 4. You are reading 2 different newspapers and both have different versions of the same event. How do you decide which one to believe? 5. What methods do some people have to persuade others to follow particular rules of behavior. Consider ways in which this persuasion relies on bias and manipulation of information. 6. Do you think revolution is worth the upheaval and damage it inevitably causes? Can it bring about real and lasting change? Why or Why not? 7. What do you look forward to? What will make your life better or more enjoyable? 8. What would it mean for a society to have no enemies? 9. Has the novel Animal Farm had any influence on your view of the world? 19
Unit: Animal Farm PROJECTS Out of the following list of projects choose two projects to complete. The first project has to be chosen from 1-4, the second one from 5-8. 1. Write the eleventh chapter of the book. It is either 10 minutes after the end of chapter 10 or 10 years. 2. Suppose the animals revolt again, this time against Napoleon. Map out plans for a successful revolt. Include at least a new leader, new commandments, plans for feeding the troop and a campaign strategy for gaining the support of the sheep. 3. Write a dialogue between Snowball and Napoleon as it might have happened over the need for a windmill. Be consistent with the characters of the book. 4. Make a symbol-bag for one of the animals. Choose 7-10 objects that have a symbolic value or meaning. The symbols cannot be to concrete (ex. NO animal figurines). All items need to be accompanied by an explanatory card. 5. Select major events from the book and present each as part of a series of televised news reports. 6. Convert the novel in a puppet show. 7. Convert the novel into a song, write lyrics and music or adapt words to an already existing melody. 8. Governments like businesses need to convey a particular image to their citizens and to other nations of the world. They use public relations experts to craft that image and communicate it through electronic and print media, word of mouth, and specific policies. Play the role of a public relations planner and analyze how Napoleon might best present the farm to its neighbors. Persuasive speech unit. ASSIGNMENTS 1. In teams of 4 students present arguments why your team should win today s price. 2. Persuasion is all around you PERSUASION IS ALL AROUND YOU You might be surprised at how many people and businesses are trying to convince you to do things every day. You only have to watch commercials, read the paper, look at the ads in your magazines, or read the billboards as you re driving home to see that persuasion is all around you. Tonight for your homework find a persuasive piece to bring to or share about in class. It can be an article in the newspaper, a letter to the editor, a movie or book review, a commercial, or an advertisement in a magazine or newspaper. Once you have found your persuasive piece, answer the questions below. 1. Where did you find your persuasive example? 2. Who is trying to persuade you? 3. What are they trying to persuade you to do? 4. Do you think their argument is convincing? Why or why not? 20
George Orwell; Animal Farm CHECK THE STRATEGIES Take another look at the persuasive piece that you chose to share with the class from the Persuasion Is All Around You assignment. What strategies does the author use to try to persuade you? Read through each strategy and decide whether the author used that strategy by writing yes or no in the second column. If you write yes, then explain how the author used that strategy. Persuasive Strategy Yes/No How the Author Used It Claim States the main point or stance Big Names Mentions experts and important people to support the argument Logos Uses logic, numbers, or facts to support the argument Pathos Appeals to the audience s emotions Ethos Tries to build trust and credibility Kairos Builds a sense of urgency for the cause Research Uses studies and information to make the argument seem more convincing; this can be in the form of words, graphs, tables, or illustrations 21
Unit: Animal Farm 4. Choose one of the IB writing assignments and fill out the persuasion map. Persuasion Map Main Reason #1 Facts of Examples: Goal or Thesis Main Reason #2 Facts of Examples: Main Reason #3 Facts of Examples: You can also fill out this map using the following link: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map/ 22
ESSAY George Orwell; Animal Farm 1. What do you think of the way Napoleon runs the farm? Would you support his leadership? Imagine you are a newcomer on the farm. Write a political speech advocating either support or opposition to Napoleon s views and methods. 2. Write a description of school policy. Then turn it into a persuasive speech for new students. How to organize your persuasive essay: Introduction Your introduction should hook your reader s attention and provide background information on your topic or controversy. The paragraph should end with a clear statement of your main idea or point of view. Body paragraphs Your body paragraphs should present the points in support of your main idea. Each body paragraph should focus on one point. Be sure to provide evidence or examples for each point. Conclusion Creatively restate your main idea and supporting points. Try to leave your audience even more connected to your topic and persuaded by your main idea or perspective. 23